NorthWestern Energy Electric Rates and Average Monthly Bill

NorthWestern Energy reported 334,010 residential customers on bundled service in 2025, using 707 kWh a month on average at 14.42 cents per kWh. Bundled means the utility supplies the energy and delivers it, so the price covers both. Among the 11 Montana utilities with at least 10,000 bundled residential customers, NorthWestern Energy ranks 10 from the lowest price.

Another 2 residential customers use NorthWestern Energy for delivery only and buy their energy from a different supplier. EIA reports their delivery revenue at about 8.00 cents per kWh, or $16.67 a month, which does not include the supply price.

Figures cover all of NorthWestern Energy's states together. A utility with a large territory can have different rates in different places.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (final 2025 data), sales to ultimate customers. Price is revenue divided by sales and includes fixed charges.

EIA lists the counties where NorthWestern Energy has distribution equipment. That covers 38 counties in Montana, Wyoming. A county can be served by more than one utility, so confirm your address with the utility or your bill.

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For 2025, NorthWestern Energy reported an average of 117 minutes without power per customer and 1.06 interruptions per customer, with major event days left out. The typical interruption lasted about 110 minutes. For comparison, the median state averaged 127 minutes of outage per customer.

NorthWestern Energy had about 11 fewer minutes of outage per customer than the median state. The Montana figure across its utilities was 135 minutes. One interruption lasting 110 minutes and 1.06 interruptions a year per customer add up to the 117 minute total.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (final 2025 data), reliability schedule, measured under IEEE 1366. Utilities define events slightly differently, so compare with care.

• Time-of-use pricing. NorthWestern Energy does not report a residential time-of-use program in its 2025 EIA filing. Ask the utility, because programs change. How time-of-use rates work.
• Rooftop solar and net metering. EIA shows 11,386 residential net-metered systems on the NorthWestern Energy grid in 2025, with 83.4 megawatts of capacity. How net metering works.

A private company owned by shareholders. A state commission reviews its costs and sets or approves its rates in formal rate cases. In Montana, that review is done by the Montana Public Service Commission.

NorthWestern Energy is an investor-owned utility based in Montana, and it also reports customers in 1 other state.

Of the 7 utilities listed for Montana, NorthWestern Energy is the 1st largest by homes, at roughly 59.0% of the state total. Montana has too few other investor-owned utilities with reported prices to compare NorthWestern Energy with its type, so the state average of 12.99 cents per kWh is the fairest yardstick. At $101.97 a month, an average NorthWestern Energy home pays about $106 a year less than the Montana average of $110.80, and uses 146 kWh a month less. NorthWestern Energy reports customers in 2 states, and this profile uses its largest, Montana, for comparisons. 11,386 of its residential customers use net metering, or 34.1 per 1,000 homes, against 23.7 for Montana as a whole.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (final 2025 data). Peers are other utilities of the same type in Montana with at least 1,000 residential customers and a reported price.

See every one on the electric companies in Montana page.

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